March 23, 2007
Judges select MFA students' works for exhibit
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Two graduate students in the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are displaying their work in a national juried competition that opens on Saturday and runs through May 3.
Molly Groom Alter, a second-year master of fine arts metals student, and Kevin Blomenkamp, a third-year MFA student in metals, are competing in The Topeka Competition 28, sponsored by the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in Kansas. The SIUC students' were among only a few dozen judges selected to compete.
Blomenkamp, of Murphysboro, is the son of Al Blomenkamp of Ballwin, Mo., and Diana Keele, of Flora, Ill. He entered two silverwork sculptures done on a jewelry scale. The pieces feature moving parts and resemble small machines, such as an engine with working cylinders and steam boiler with valves and tubes.
Blomenkamp, 32, earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in arts from Missouri State University in Springfield and will graduate from SIUC with his MFA in May. He plans to pursue a teaching career at the university level while also working as an artist.
Alter, 39, of Murphysboro, earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from Cleveland Institute of Art. She is the daughter of Karen A. Lowe and the late Eugene Alter of Fort Wayne, Ind.
Alter entered a 12-foot-long wall piece titled "Cancer," which depicts the various stages of the disease in a single cell. She constructed the piece with steel, copper, enamel and Plexiglas. She also plans to pursue a teaching career at the university level while also working as an artist.